The REST and SOAP APIs
Some of the Marketing Cloud developers that have been in the platform for many years may remember that there was a third option for API in Marketing Cloud – XML. Now, rightly so, when we say that, you should shudder with horror as it was not only one of the most antiquated and overly complex API types, but it was, by far, a security nightmare. Thankfully, this option has been retired and is no longer an option.
Now, we are left with just two different types of API in Marketing Cloud – SOAP and REST. Let's take a moment to introduce what each is. Note that we will only be going over how it relates to Marketing Cloud via the HTTP protocol – there is a lot beyond what each type can do: